1513: Chapter 727: The Power of Friends 1513: Chapter 727: The Power of Friends After a brief inspection, Hofstadter and Kuber returned to the small mountain village late at night.
The city had prepared various hospitality plans, but clearly, for this group of scholars who ca for an exchange, they preferred Sancha River Town with its complete laboratory.
Facing the invitation from the city officials, they all expressed that they were pressed for ti and simply could not make it to the city.
That was indeed the case, as their trip was pre-arranged for academic exchange in China.
The detour to Sancha River Town had already been an extra trip, and any further delays were unaffordable.
However, the person in charge who led the team was at a loss; after discussing with his companions, they concluded that it takes the thief who used the bell to untie it—their last resort was to seek Yan Fei.
This Director Liu, was responsible for office work.
Normally, Director Niu, whom Yan Fei knew, should have been in charge of reception, but he had just gone out of town with city leaders, giving Liu the chance to take on this task.
Receptions can be easy; just entertain the guests with food, drinks, and fun.
However, so are challenging, such as Director Liu’s currently assigned task of hosting foreign friends—especially a group of expert scholars—which was undoubtedly extrely difficult.
Everything has two sides; if this reception turns out well and satisfies both the guests and the hosts, then it’s not a difficulty but an opportunity.
After considering Yan Fei’s personality, Director Liu ca up with a plan and approached Yan Fei courteously: “Boss Yan, could you let these expert scholars stay a night in our city?
If that’s really not possible, at least before they leave tomorrow, let them have a look around at the two universities in our city.
It’s a golden opportunity to enhance the reputation of our city’s universities.
Could you think of a way?”
He laid out his request without waiting for Yan Fei to voice any objection, then imdiately stated his terms: “Funds for education have been allocated for the third quarter of this year in our city, and there is still so floating capital available.
I think it would be quite appropriate to grant it to your alma mater.
It’s not a huge sum, but dividing it among the three schools—the primary school, junior high, and high school—that you attended, each could receive a sum of one hundred thousand or eighty thousand.
How does that sound?”
Eighty thousand to a hundred thousand for each school—Director Liu was quite bold to propose that.
These days, for a rural school to receive such an extra allocation would be a dream co true for principals and teachers.
Particularly for the several schools in Sancha River Town, given their size, such an amount of money would be more than enough to repair dormitories and sports fields or purchase so teaching equipnt for teachers and students.
Yan Fei was tempted at that mont; it’s not that the money was significant to him—he could easily afford to donate it to the school.
However, the nature of his donation and the allocation from the city were different; the impact on the morale of the teachers and students would also be entirely different.
But with soone asking for help, and having no real relationship with Director Liu, he still wanted to play hard-to-get: “But what about our No.2 Junior High School?”
Only he would think of No.2 Junior High School.
Truth be told, despite having a large campus, No.2 Junior High School’s teaching resources and other aspects had been inferior to First Middle School in recent years.
Locals preferred to pull strings and use back doors to enroll their children in First Middle School, making it even more popular.
Director Liu saw that the scholars had all gone to rest, and considering the lateness of the hour, he gritted his teeth and decided: “Alright, I’ll try to figure sothing out and squeeze out at least fifty thousand more.”
“However, I still need to discuss this with Director Niu upon his return and coordinate with other departnts.
I really can’t promise more than that.
Rest assured, if I give you my word now, it will be done; if not, you can denounce at the governnt’s door.”
Yan Fei almost laughed, Director Liu was really pushing himself.
Not that Yan was too concerned with these governnt affairs, but as a major local business leader, the circles he mingled with were correspondingly higher.
Even if he didn’t pay much attention to these things, he had so understanding just from what he heard and saw regularly.
For example, the city’s various funding issues — if it’s specifically for education, though others may have so complaints, Director Liu certainly had a valid reason: In recent years, Sancha River Town has been doing well in various aspects, but education facilities have lagged behind.
The city feels it should provide more support, and asks for everyone’s understanding for this quarter’s allocation.
But when it cos to other funds, to scrape together another fifty thousand would be truly difficult.
It’s always the case: people flock to the city seeking various funds, and before the provincial allocations have even arrived, the city’s budget is usually already earmarked—sure, you can allocate funds for education, but if you divert our money, we’ll be left starving without grain to cook!
“The landlord has no surplus grain” is precisely the situation described, with countless eyes on every penny—all with legitimate reasons.
To divert a sum of “soone else’s” money in full public view is not sothing that can be easily settled with a word or two.
Hearing Director Liu go to such lengths, Yan Fei didn’t say more, simply nodded in agreent: “I’ll try my best tomorrow to see if it can be done.
Whether it will be successful, I really can’t say as you’ve seen, this group of people is also quite difficult to convince.”
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